Let’s Spend the Night Together ***½ (1983, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Ian Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 4644

Cinematographers Caleb Deschanel and Gerald Feil hold the cameras while The Rolling Stones provide the music in director Hal Ashby’s exhilarating 1983 concert feature film documentary. It was shot during their 1981 US tour shows in Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona (13 December 1981, outdoor stadium show), and the Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, New Jersey (6 November 1981, indoor arena show).

Alas, there are no surprises nor any backstage revelations about the band, but the film is all about the infectious dynamism of the occasion, conveying it thrillingly. And of course no one struts their stuff quite like the exciting Mick Jagger and the ageless one-time World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band, then in middle age, certainly knows how to give satisfaction back in 1981.

All the old classic Mick Jagger-Keith Richards greatest hits just keep coming – fantastic!

The songs include: Time Is on Our Side, Satisfaction, She’s So Cold, Miss You, Black Limousine, All Down the Line, Brown Sugar, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Hony Tonk Women, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Let It Bleed, Under My Thumb, Let’s Spend the Night Together, Take the A Train, Waiting on a Friend, Tumbling Dice, Start Me Up and Just My Imagination.

The Rolling Stones are Mick Jagger on lead vocals and guitar, Keith Richards on guitar and vocals, Charlie Watts on drums, Bill Wyman on bass guitar, and Ronnie Wood on guitar and backing vocals.

Additional musicians are Ian Stewart on keyboards, Ian McLagan on organ, Ernie Watts on saxophone and tambourine, and Bobby Keys on saxophone.

It was released in cinemas on 18 February 1983 in a bizarre double bill with The Pirates of Penzance.

The live album Still Life from the same tour was released in 1982.

It was released in Australia and New Zealand as Time Is on Our Side and as Rocks Off in Germany in 1982 with slightly different footage and the additional song When the Whip Comes Down.

Hal Ashby collapsed while making the film in Arizona and, although he recovered, he was never physically the same afterwards. He is the director of The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Coming Home (1978) and Being There (1979).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4644

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